Kernza® Wheat

Perennial Promise Growers Cooperative

Kernza® is the first commercially available perennial grain and is a substitute for traditional wheat in foods such as flour, bread, tortillas, crackers, pasta and beer or can be used as a whole grain ingredient.

It’s extensive root system prevents erosion, cleans water, mitigates nitrate leaching, improves soil health, and sequesters more atmospheric carbon than traditional wheat.

Kernza® grain is harvested from intermediate wheatgrass (Thinopyrum intermedium). It’s closely related to annual wheat and has been historically grown as fodder for livestock. The Land Institute, a non-profit research, education and policy organization based in Salina, Kansas, began breeding Kernza for human consumption in 2003.

Kernza’s commercial launch is the result of an unprecedented coalition of land grant universities, farmers, research partners, processors, and CPG companies from 15 states and 10 countries, including leadership from the University of Minnesota’s Forever Green Initiative.

Today the emerging crop is grown on nearly 4,000 acres across the U.S. & Canada and is being sold to sustainability focused brands and consumers.

Characteristics of Kernza

Environmental

• Improves soil’s ability to retain water, prevents runoff, and reduces soil erosion
• May reduces nitrate leaching into groundwater by 95%
• Provides diverse wildlife habitat
• Kernza production reduces greenhouse gas emissions due to reduced tillage and inputs
• Perennial grasslands, like Kernza, sequester 300 - 1,000 pounds of atmospheric carbon per acre per year

Formulation & Flavor

• Flavor: Kernza has a unique sweet & nutty flavor profile.
• High in protein, fiber, potassium, carotenoids, calcium, and antioxidants - especially when compared to wheat
• It performs more like rye in baking applications
• Kernza is most often used as a blended ingredient with Common inclusions rates between 10-50%

Kernza Wheat

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Hopper Bottom

In 2021, Minnesota organic farmer Carmen Fernholz drafted the earliest plans for this new cooperative.  Engaging other farmers in his vision, a farmer-led steering committee was formed and the cooperative was launched.  Today the PPGC represents more than 30 farmers spread across eight states: Minnesota, Nebraska, Montana, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, Iowa, and Wyoming.

Kernza’s commercial launch is the result of an unprecedented coalition of land grant universities, farmers, research partners, processors, and CPG companies from 15 states and 10 countries, including leadership from The Land Institute and the University of Minnesota’s Forever Green Initiative.

We supply brands and manufacturers with the highest quality certified organic, regenerative organic certified (ROC) and non-GMO perennial ingredients with a focus on sustainable U.S. domestic supply. 
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Perennial Promise Grower’s Cooperative is committed to sustainability, traceability and fair pay.

We envision a landscape where perennial grains are abundant

Kernza’s extensive root system prevents erosion, cleans water, mitigates nitrate leaching, improves soil health, and sequesters more atmospheric carbon than traditional wheat, making it both a grain and climate solution. Perennial grasslands sequester 300 - 1,000 pounds of atmospheric carbon per acre per year.

Kernza has a unique sweet & nutty flavor profile, and is mahogany in color. It is most often used as a blended ingredient with inclusion rates between 10-50% (depending on the application). It does contain gluten, but at different rates than wheat (which affects dough elasticity). With proper storage conditions, Kernza flour would be considered shelf stable.